£500,000 to 1 million pounds worth of watches stolen from selfridges

[mosh_2k7]

Just saw this on the news today.

Designer watches worth £500,000 to 1 million pounds have been stolen from Selfridges in Manchester city centre.

Police say three masked men entered the store at 7.20pm last night wearing high-visibility jackets, while the store was still open to the public.

They smashed display cabinets using an axe and crowbars and stole approximately 100 watches before escaping in a black Mercedes Benz driven by a fourth man. The car was found abandoned in Robert Street, Strangeways, a short time later.

Watches including Audermars Piguet, Jaeger le Coultre, Hublot and Cartier were taken. Only took them 80 seconds to do it. They probably will end up unloading them to pawnshops and internet sites at significantly reduced prices.

[AME]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqz_Z6qmjDE[/AME]

 

[iamthestig]

That's a lot of watches! 80 seconds is crazy!

 

[dropbea2007]

Whoa, l'll keep an eye on ebay...

 

[sumiter7]

Couldn't they eventually be tracked down? Most of the high end watches have serial numbers; and if the person without knowing it was stolen brings to an AD to either confirm its authenticity or to get it serviced will likely have his/her watch confiscated and tracked down from then?
That being said, they'll have to get rid of the serial number, which will significantly reduce the prices of the watches, and people buying the watch will probably have doubts about the origin of the watch.

 

[nige76]

Couple of AP's and a Hublot on members Gen sales section

Contact NW England, maybe worth a look?

 

[SecretAgentMan]

When its as organized as this, the probably have a fence ready to take the watches at a discount.

 

[Wacker23]

Wow thats great.

 

[sanankid]

80 x 10k is only 270k a piece for these 3 morons. Really stupid cost vs. benefit.

 

[TastyTreats]

Couldn't they eventually be tracked down? Most of the high end watches have serial numbers; and if the person without knowing it was stolen brings to an AD to either confirm its authenticity or to get it serviced will likely have his/her watch confiscated and tracked down from then?
That being said, they'll have to get rid of the serial number, which will significantly reduce the prices of the watches, and people buying the watch will probably have doubts about the origin of the watch.

Agree with this whole heartedly.

Once Serial Numbers are out in the open no doubt they will be caught.

Having said that - the black market is a sure fire place for off loading luxury merchandise.

 

[TESLA760]

No. These guys don't hit this type of place, in hopes of selling the watches on Pawn Stars. This is organized crime. There are people waiting to buy these.

 

[jpohl402]

No. These guys don't hit this type of place, in hopes of selling the watches on Pawn Stars. This is organized crime. There are people waiting to buy these.

No kidding, could not have said it better myself.

 

[Fez]

Some real dullards around ...


"ile keep my eye out on ebay..."

"A few for sale on the gen members forum"

..seriously?!
icard:

 

[trailboss99]

No. These guys don't hit this type of place, in hopes of selling the watches on Pawn Stars. This is organized crime. There are people waiting to buy these.

Of cause there were! "unload to pawnshops and internet sites", LOL. This was steal to order, they had a shopping list. The pieces are probably in Russia or China already.

 

[rols16610]

They said on the news that they only went for the high end stuff, and new exactly where to look for them.

As TB said this stuff has been stolen to order and is probably on its way abroad.

 

[Fez]

Obviously - anyone that thinks otherwise is a genuine buffoon

 

[redforeva]

Or, it could've been an inside insurance fraud job

 

[BMWSG]

Just like stolen cars. In order to reduce the chance of beem caught.

Will they stripped the watch apart and sold it separately?

 

[trailboss99]

Or, it could've been an inside insurance fraud job

Um . . . no.

Just like stolen cars. In order to reduce the chance of beem caught.

Will they stripped the watch apart and sold it separately?

Possible but I highly doubt it. The most valuable bit is the movement and it has a serial. Besides, there is not the same demand for watch parts as car parts. These will off to places like Russia and East Europe where sales of high end watches "no questions asked" are a lot more common.

 

[carlton]

Just like stolen cars. In order to reduce the chance of beem caught.

Will they stripped the watch apart and sold it separately?

As in Strap, case, movement etc...? I don't think so as this is too much trouble for them and all they want is to offload it in the shortest time possible. And also i think that the more buyer they encounter, the higher risk they are of getting caught.

 

[daz1201]

Maybe it was some TDs and they're gonna make Frankens